Sunday, 7 April 2013

Guest Review - Dracula (1958) - The 2012 Restoration

Dir: TERENCE FISHERCountry: UKAKA:Horror of Dracula

A long time ago I watched a horror movie on
television. I had seen a few horrors before and was beginning to develop a
preference for the genre. There seemed to be one on every Friday night and
occasionally if you were really lucky a double bill. It wasn’t long before one
such Friday Fight Feature on Night Time TV was Hammer’s production of Dracula starring Peter Cushing as a
dashing, determined, younger Van Helsing and Christopher Lee as a full-blooded
and sexually charged Count Dracula. It was directed by Terence Fisher who is
now rightly regarded as an auteur. The only detraction to this stunning
production it seems has been the passage of time. The colour fading, and dulling
of light which can often hide the detail in a film recorded originally with an
emphasis on set design and colour photography. As well as a deterioration of
the sound quality through regular cinema screenings and copies of copies made
for distribution around the world. General ageing and wear and tear have all
played a part in lessening the impact of a once vibrant and visceral rendering.

The restored title card used on British prints of Dracula.

When Hammer decided to restore and re-master some of
their classic titles and Dracula was mentioned as one of those titles.
Cineastes the world over held their breath and waited impatiently for the
release of the greatest horror movie made in England to be released again in a
new medium of High Definition. The first thing that hits you when you press
play is the power of the brilliant score by James Bernard. The simple syllabic
expression of “Dra-cu-la” in orchestral form was in 1958 and is still today an
epic clarion call of doom laden portent. A bass drum led theme that declares
the arrival of a new and excitingly modern Dracula. The re-mastering of the
audio has separated the mono scores individual elements and created a stunning
platform for the composers masterwork. As the opening titles take a slow and
purposeful pan and dissolve round the battlements of the castle to finally
focus on the Counts crypt, the stunning silence underlines the magnificent
pomposity of the score that lingers in your mind even after it has ended. As a
mysterious dripping of blood lands on Dracula’s tomb we are invited to take
this journey if we dare.

The journey begins with Jonathan Harker arriving at
the castle amidst a gorgeous autumn scene. The camera is drawn to the trees
like a moth to a flame. The leaves on the trees vie for our eyes attention in a
veritable cornucopia of colour. The word for Jack Asher’s cinematography is
undoubtedly “lush!” He picks up the immense qualities of the set design from
Bernard Robinson beautifully. From the ornate spring on the grounds of the
castle to the design of the coach taking Harker to his destination we are,
within seconds of the opening titles, aware that we are watching artistry of
the highest order. This is not the sugar coated and colour saturated world of
Cliff Richard’s Summer Holiday (1963). This
is celluloid artistry by industry veterans who care deeply about each detail
that the viewer sees. As we step inside Castle Dracula the cold bluish hue of
the stone architecture is returned to us again after years of poor quality DVD
prints. A simple wine decanter filled with ruby red liquid next to Brandy and
Crème De Menthe turns from mere props into objects of innate fascination and
awe.

The years of Black and White cinematography have not
been forgotten. The use of shadow and silhouette at the moment of Christopher
Lee’s entrance at the top of the stairs at a doorway is dramatic and slightly
disturbing. As he glides eerily down the stairs we are tempted to look down to
make sure his feet are working. Removing Lee’s footsteps from the audio and the
length of his cloak heighten this atmosphere. The power of Lee’s performance
cannot be underestimated. At his second appearance the suave debonair count
bursts into the library as a fully- fledged monstrously enraged vampire. An
animalistic and demonic sight brought so much more to life in this restoration.
His eyes flamed and blood red. There is evil and menace oozing from his tall
and nimble gait. A performance so great the actor would be uncomfortably
stereotyped in similarly sinister roles until he finally moved to America and
received more cult status as a Bond baddie.

And then there is Peter Cushing, perhaps the finest
actor who ever deigned to appear in the oft shunned horror genre. His
performance is the dynamic driving force of the entire film. His clinical and
zealous hunt for Dracula is a dramatic tour de force that has never been
equalled. His Van Helsing is an amalgamation of several of the characters from
the novel. He is both youthful and wise unlike the novel and the Universal Van
Helsing. (In an era when youthful meant able and physically capable as opposed
to boyish and innocent)Cushing is brought back to us in this re-mastered
version. His impossibly blue eyes shine out at us and instantly inspire trust
and honesty. His eyes would later display his immense sadness after the death
of his beloved wife Helen in the Blu-ray version of The Vampire Lovers (1970). The
scene in which he stakes Harker’s fiancée Lucy while her brother, played by
Michael Gough, looks on contains some of the best acting ever filmed.
Beautifully lit and with a musical theme that could be mistaken for a work by
any classical composer, we are moved from horror to sublime release in seconds.

I don’t want to ruin the story for anyone who hasn’t
seen the film or indeed the Blu-ray restoration. But it would be remiss of me
not to mention the addition of the cut parts of the final disintegration of
Dracula. Baring in mind the film was made in 1958 this scene has always been a
high point of and from a technical viewpoint revolutionary. The few seconds
that have been put back in add greatly to the scene. The close-up of Dracula’s
leg; his face as he cries in pain and the scraping of his face with his hand
are shocking 55 years after they were filmed.

The Celluloid Highway's Film of the Week

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